Tickets are being sold by EventBrite this year, and have increased in price from $175 to $199. Charity Dinner tickets have increased from $500 to $750.

Steel thyself, O mortal realm of Anaheim! The eighth BlizzCon is coming to your Convention Center this<strong> Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8, 2014<\/strong>. Prepare for two relentless days of Blizzard gaming and fellowship, including in-depth discussion panels with Blizzard developers, hands-on opportunities with the latest Blizzard games, and intense eSports tournaments featuring top pro gamers from across the earthly plane.<\/p><br \/><p>Tickets for BlizzCon 2014 will go on sale in two batches, one on <strong>Wednesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. PT<\/strong> and the other on <strong>Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m. PT<\/strong>, through the <a href="http:\/\/www.blizzcon2014.eventbrite.com\/" target="_blank">online event ticketing service Eventbrite<\/a>, priced at $199 each (plus applicable taxes and fees). In addition, a limited number of tickets to an exclusive pre-BlizzCon Benefit Dinner will go on sale <strong>Wednesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. PT<\/strong> for $750 apiece (plus applicable taxes and fees; BlizzCon admission included), with proceeds benefitting <a href="http:\/\/www.choc.org\/" target="_blank">Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County<\/a>. Check out the <a href="http:\/\/us.battle.net\/blizzcon\/en\/event-info\/tickets\/ticket-overview" target="_blank">BlizzCon Ticket webpage<\/a> for more information\u2014we\u2019ve made some changes to how ticket sales work this year, and fortune favors the prepared!<\/p><br \/><p>If you can\u2019t make it to the show in person, the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket is the next best thing, offering comprehensive live coverage of the event via a multichannel Internet stream. Further details on the Virtual Ticket, including pricing, availability, and programming information, will be announced at a later date.<\/p><br \/><p>See the <a href="http:\/\/www.blizzard.com\/company\/press\/pressreleases.html?id=13874224" target="_blank">full press release<\/a> or check out the <a href="http:\/\/us.battle.net\/blizzcon\/en\/event-info\/tickets\/ticket-overview" target="_blank">BlizzCon Ticket page<\/a> for more information, and be sure visit <a href="http:\/\/www.blizzcon2014.eventbrite.com" target="_blank">www.blizzcon2014.eventbrite.com<\/a> at the dates and times above for a chance to purchase a ticket to the show. See you in Anaheim!

WoW SourceWoW Source has released a new episode, with Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas, and Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut. Key points covered are as follows:

Diminishing Returns categories have been reduced from thirteen to five.Fear has been reduced from eight seconds to five. CC is still important for gameplay, and will not be removed.They want to address the problem of PvP gear in the world -- in WoD it will be clearer how your gear is in PvP as every piece will have two item levels, such as 550 for PvE but as soon as you engage in PvP it goes to 590.We saw an early map and description of Ashran, it looks like a tug-of-war style map with peripheral objectives. See the map image below.There will be dedicated max level zones on Alpha for raids and PvP where characters will be boosted to 100 just for testing that content.There was more Skirmish information - solo queues, bags as rewards, with loot or honor, small chance to reward conquest gear.Tanking is more about mitigation and the like than about threat, and that will stay the same in Warlords.Proving Grounds will be improved to help teach players their roles.Button Bloat removal was focused on redundant buttons, or spells that did the same thing as each other with a minor difference, such as Drain Soul and Drain Life, or Mangle and Shred.Visual Clutter is being toned down, your party members will see your abilities less. PvP will not tone down clutter as it's important to see everything.The devs consider it really important to keep the game unified, despite how it adds constraints to game design.The more feedback the devs get, the better the game will become!

Commentaire de zotheghost

Commentaire de PragmaticSoul

I thought that PvPers were tired of all the CCs? Is CCs still being in the game a good thing or a bad thing?\r\r(I say that as someone who forgets about mine, while PvE'ing, so...)

Commentaire de wilosoft

on 2014-04-22T13:21:41-05:00

Typo:

CC is still important for gameplay, and will not be being removed.

Great info on PVP though :)

Commentaire de oliviadgrace

on 2014-04-22T13:27:42-05:00

Typo:\r\rCC is still important for gameplay, and will not be being removed.\r\rGreat info on PVP though :)\r\rFixed, thanks! That's what I get for typing what I hear :)\r\rAnd yes, I'm REALLY excited!

Commentaire de Aerozia

on 2014-04-22T13:46:42-05:00

\/sigh not fair that blizzcon never moves, bring it around the county, make the stupid Californians have to fly to get to it, they're rich enough. bring blizzcon to Chicago, Detroit, I'd totally go.

Commentaire de Sas148

on 2014-04-22T13:52:09-05:00

\/sigh not fair that blizzcon never moves, bring it around the county, make the stupid Californians have to fly to get to it, they're rich enough. bring blizzcon to Chicago, Detroit, I'd totally go.\r\rlol - I live right next to that convention center now and I may not be going. It just depends on if I can afford the ticket. We're not all "rich" as you say. Also, the event is massive... especially when you just think of the full gaming rig computers they put in there, several thousand of them. Hauling that any further than they already do would increase the cost of those tickets well above $1,000 each (conservative approximation). Then the staff they'd have to fly wherever as well needs to be taken into account, housing all those people for those couple of days that presently can go home for the night... I could go on but hopefully you get the point.

Commentaire de SadisticPretzel

on 2014-04-22T14:01:56-05:00

Could someone explain the thoughts behind the PvP item level jump to me? I do not follow.

Commentaire de pikamaster

on 2014-04-22T14:10:48-05:00

So Ashran is a combo of Alterac Valley, Isle of Conquest, Tol Barad and Wintergrasp, i mean i was hoping they would go new ther .. well at least they added a world boss ... but i was hoping they could bring back something unique from Alterac Valley, when people gather enough materials to summon a Giant Mob .. that was the good day

Commentaire de moosecat11

on 2014-04-22T15:42:51-05:00

\/sigh not fair that blizzcon never moves, bring it around the county, make the stupid Californians have to fly to get to it, they're rich enough. bring blizzcon to Chicago, Detroit, I'd totally go.While there's a lot of rich people in California..."Californians" are not rich. If it looks like we make more in a year than others, it's probably because we have to pay out the butt on cost of living. Also...Chicago? No thanks. I don't want to get shot. :p\r\rHaving the convention in Anaheim is very convenient for Blizzard since they are very close. It saves them time and lets them get back to developing their games quicker. For Californians, you could always think of it as compensation for living in this crap state. ;)

Commentaire de Azrile

on 2014-04-22T16:07:52-05:00

Could someone explain the thoughts behind the PvP item level jump to me? I do not follow.\r\rYou buy a pvp weapon with conquest points. That weapon will have slightly higher strength and secondary stats if you use it for pvp, and will have lower stats if you use it for pve. The weapon will change based on where you are.\r\rSomething like this\r\rPvP weapon used in PVE Ilvl 550\rPvE Raid weapon 570\rPVP weapon used in PvP ilvl 585\r\rSo you can use your pvp weapon for PvE, but it will be slightly lower than the current pve weapon but if you use it for pvp, it is higher than the current raid weapon.

Commentaire de Azrile

on 2014-04-22T16:12:11-05:00

So Ashran is a combo of Alterac Valley, Isle of Conquest, Tol Barad and Wintergrasp, i mean i was hoping they would go new ther .. well at least they added a world boss ... but i was hoping they could bring back something unique from Alterac Valley, when people gather enough materials to summon a Giant Mob .. that was the good day\r\rI do think they are going to add those type of mechanisms. What if that isn\u00b4t a world boss, but it is a boss that serves the faction that holds that capture point? They have already mentioned a few times that there will be \u00b4activities\u00b4 that players can do that will help your side. My guess is that every marked spot on the map will have some overall function, some will probably release NPCs.\r\rThere is no point system, the fight is literally going to be a battle in the middle. So without a point system, those capture points have to serve some function, and my guess is it will be a lot of things like AV had.

Commentaire de SadisticPretzel

on 2014-04-22T16:34:22-05:00

Could someone explain the thoughts behind the PvP item level jump to me? I do not follow.\r\rYou buy a pvp weapon with conquest points. That weapon will have slightly higher strength and secondary stats if you use it for pvp, and will have lower stats if you use it for pve. The weapon will change based on where you are.\r\rSomething like this\r\rPvP weapon used in PVE Ilvl 550\rPvE Raid weapon 570\rPVP weapon used in PvP ilvl 585\r\rSo you can use your pvp weapon for PvE, but it will be slightly lower than the current pve weapon but if you use it for pvp, it is higher than the current raid weapon.\r\rOkay, I wasn't clear. Really sorry.\r\rI get what they're saying; what I don't understand is why such a thing would be necessary. Why does PvP need a higher item level\/better stats than PvE?

Commentaire de PragmaticSoul

on 2014-04-22T17:32:26-05:00

Okay, I wasn't clear. Really sorry.\r\rI get what they're saying; what I don't understand is why such a thing would be necessary. Why does PvP need a higher item level\/better stats than PvE?\r\rNote that I don't PvP, and I don't raid.\r\rLike raiders, PvPers put in extra effort. Whereas raiders get baseline improved iLvl gear, PvPers put in the extra effort to fight other players, and get gear that's a lot better at fighting other players... at the cost of having it be only marginally better than dungeon gear at fighting mobs.\r\rThe only benefit they get from it (in terms of effort and skill put out) from their gear is, they are better at fighting other players. And the only players they can fight are players on a PvP realm, or players who have flagged themselves.\r\rHonestly, I don't care. As long as there's a variety of slower-but-still-existing methods of non-PvPers\/non-raiders to improve their gear (i.e., I hope they find some decent replacement for valor points, which they're probably discarding; something that doesn't require us to spend "bonus coins," in other words), let the die-hards have their MUCH better gear.

Commentaire de Azrile

on 2014-04-22T22:13:26-05:00

They answered it directly in the interview. They want there to be cross-over in gear, but they want pvp gear to be better than raid gear at pvp, and they want raid gear to be better than pvp at raiding.

Commentaire de rinkworks

on 2014-04-23T09:35:07-05:00

Why does PvP need a higher item level\/better stats than PvE?They want there to be cross-over in gear, but they want pvp gear to be better than raid gear at pvp, and they want raid gear to be better than pvp at raiding.

The ilevel system we have now is virtually just this (PvP gear is best in PvP contexts and okay in PvE contexts, and vice versa), but the ilevel only tells you about the PvE context. That is, it's instantly clear that a piece of 550 PvP gear is slightly worse in raids than 553 raid gear, but slightly better than 548 flex gear. (I'm assuming the same proportional allocation of secondary stats, of course.)